Irvine – Voice of OChttps://voiceofoc.org
Orange County's nonprofit newsroomMon, 21 Jan 2019 09:08:10 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.9Looking Ahead at OC’s Political Landscapehttps://voiceofoc.org/2019/01/looking-ahead-at-ocs-political-landscape/
https://voiceofoc.org/2019/01/looking-ahead-at-ocs-political-landscape/#respondWed, 16 Jan 2019 14:53:47 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=785890Orange County Republicans need to distance themselves from President Donald Trump to to regain the offices they lost in November and Democrats can’t overplay their hand in order to keep the legislative seats they gained heading into 2020, according to policy and elections specialists.

That political advice and more from county experts is being reviewed as candidates and campaign professionals look to the 2020 elections and how to handle the major changes 2018 brought to Orange County.

Chapman University political science professor and elections expert Mike Moodian said the division between national Republicans and OC Republicans is hurting the GOP’s 2020 election prospects.

“The reason is that in California — and Orange County is starting to resemble more California in terms of its politics, but it will always be an outlier and not as progressive as the state in policies — we’re seeing the county start to embrace progressive views as it relates to climate change, as to health care,” Moodian said. “I think the Republican party in Orange County is a little bit in disarray right now. They’re trying to find some identity.”

Moodian said the GOP is going to have to pick between siding with Trump or distancing themselves and pointed to state Board of Equalization Chairwoman Diane Harkey — who lost to Democratic newcomer Mike Levin in the southern 49th Congressional District race.

“Does the Republican party in the county want to be the party that embraces Trump or does it want to be the party that distances itself from Trump — remember Diane Harkey was endorsed by Trump and didn’t even list it on her (campaign) website,” Moodian said.

In an email newsletter, OC GOP Chairman Fred Whitaker acknowledged that some Republicans voted for Democrats in the general election.

“As a matter of fact, on many of the preliminary vote totals we’ve been looking at – significant numbers of Republicans we turned out, look to have voted Democrat. Whether it was on healthcare or the limitations on mortgage interest and state tax deductions, some of our voters defected,” Whitaker wrote.

In a podcast with Voice of OC Publisher Norberto Santana Jr., Whitaker said Republicans need to localize races in the 2020 elections in their attempt to take back legislative seats lost to Democrats. The new Democratic super majority in the state legislature could benefit Republicans, Whitaker said.

“Democrats will be unable to help themselves and they will overstep and more likely they’ll overstep on people’s Prop 13 protection, they’ll over step on income taxes, other forms of taxation and fees. And, just like you’re seeing in France, your average working person is just going to say, ‘enough.’ So I think if we just focus on those bread and butter issues … and not let ourselves get nationalized in the election, we’ll do better,” Whitaker said.

He also said Republicans are going to need more money in the 2020 elections, especially since Democrats far outspent Republicans in the four key Congressional Districts — the 39th, 45th, 48th and 49th — during the 2018 election.

“Over $24 million came out of Orange County on the Republican side and back to the national committees and really only four or five came back,” Whitaker said. “I think they (national Republicans) took a look at what was the field and where they thought people will hold. We were pretty cocky, we thought we would hold Orange County.”

Ada Briceño, who’s running for chair of the OC Democratic party, said the party saw some strong candidates emerge in the 2018 elections, which can help secure local offices for the party.

“What’s exciting to me is that for the school boards and city councils, we’ve seen all these leaders come out from different groups — great candidates we saw in this past election … we are going to have no shortage (of candidates). We need to train them and mentor them so they can go into our school boards and city councils,” said Briceño, who is also co-president of Unite Here 11, a local service worker union.

“I think in 2019 and 2020, our goal is to make sure that we keep our Democrats elected and they gain an additional seat. And we have to do that by continuing to register voters in high numbers and my vision is to bring town halls and events to recruit candidates, and not only candidates, but to recruit the base that’s going to get our folks and keep our folks elected,” Brcieño said.

Most political and elections scholars don’t consider Orange County a blue county, but a purple county because overall voter registration is nearly even between Republicans and Democrats — the GOP holds less than a one percentage point lead over Democrats at 34.3 percent of voters, according to data from the OC Registrar of Voters.

The 71-year-old Rohrabacher, a former speechwriter and special assistant for President Ronald Reagan, had been in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1989.

Although Republicans had a voter registration edge in the district heading into the general election, it wasn’t enough to keep Rohrabacher in office. Like the other three OC Congressional districts targeted by national Democrats, the GOP’s edge in voter registration has been slowly dropping. In 2012 the GOP had a 15-point lead over Democrats in the 48th district — seven points more than 2018. The no party preference (NPP) voters grew from 23 to 27 percent since 2012, while Democrat voters grew from 28 to 30 percent.

California State University, Fullerton political science professor Meriem Doucette, a policy and political behavior expert, said Republicans need to find new policies that will connect with OC moderate Republicans and NPP voters.

“The Republicans really have to go back to the drawing board because tying themselves to Trump and his policies is not a path to victory in Orange County,” Doucette said.

She said Republicans may fare better if they focus on the homelessness issue that’s spreading throughout the county.

“Republicans in general are afraid of using the word ‘tax’ or afraid of increasing public funding for social services like that, but homelessness has become a crisis in Orange County and California. You see it everywhere now … as much as Republicans are concerned about spending money on those kinds of things, it is something that’s affecting people everywhere, and they’re going to have to figure out how to deal with that issue, even though it’s not in their wheelhouse,” Doucette said.

She also said the sanctuary city controversy from the county and various cities throughout 2018 could play a factor in 2020, depending on who comes out to vote.

“Millennials and young voters tend to be more supportive in sanctuary city ideas. If they come out to vote, they’re (Republicans) going to have a real problem,” Doucette said, adding that Trump will be a motivating factor for Democrats. “I think Democrats are going to be running against Trump because he’s so unpopular.”

The Republican National Committee didn’t respond for comment and the state GOP referred Voice of OC to Whitaker, who didn’t respond for comment. But, during the podcast, Whitaker said the GOP should include the homelessness issue in its platform.

“Our candidates for the higher offices should talk about the Orange County way in dealing with that issue (homelessness) and really taking away that issue from the Democrats because its a quality of life issue for most people. So I think we can be aggressive on that.” Whitaker said.

Echoing what Whitaker said, Democrats at the national and state level need to avoid overplaying their hand by advancing or advocating for policies that could be seen by voters as too progressive, said many elections and policy experts.

“The Democrats will get very emboldened and mistake their very slim victories as a mandate to govern really far to the left or advance a lot of very progressive ideals which won’t go over well with a lot of the electorate in the county,” said Scott Spitzer, CSUF elections and policy professor. “If they focus a lot of energy impeaching Trump right away, I don’t think that’s going to go over well … it’s (OC) certainly not a left-wing, progressive electorate.”

Efforts from local, state and national Democrats on the Congressional races could have a spillover effect into Democrats mobilizing campaigns to run for city councils and other local offices that have been dominated by Republicans for years.

“I think one of the good things for Democrats this last election did was it brought a lot of OC Democrats into political organizations … you look at races where Democrats didn’t do well like the sheriff’s race, they’re just not running good candidates yet,” said CSUF American Politics professor Rob Robinson.

“My sense is that in the medium to longer run some of the organization developed for these House races will trickle down into these state and local races … and that just has to happen for Democrats to be more competitive at the county level,” Robinson said. “You see this in other states: Democrats lost Presidential or Congressional races … but they started winning local races … They’re still electing Democrats in West Virginia even though Trump won by like 20 points.”

Democrats did gain a seat on the County Board of Supervisors when former Fullerton Mayor Doug Chaffee defeated La Habra Mayor Tim Shaw for the north district seat.

Since Supervisor Todd Spitzer won the District Attorney’s election, a special election will be held March 12 to fill the remaining two years on the term. Voters will choose among Democratic former Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, Irvine Mayor Don Wagner and former Anaheim Councilwoman Kris Murray. Wagner and Murray, both Republicans, face the possibility of splitting the GOP vote and giving Sanchez the 3rd District seat.

Unlike the north county 4th District won by Chaffee in November, Republicans have the voter registration advantage in the 3rd District. The GOP has a 3.8 percentage-point margin above Democrats in the 3rd District, versus Democrats’ 10.6-point advantage in the 4th District.

“Immediately, we have the supervisors race — the third district. That’s coming in the next few months and I think it’s a great opportunity for us to make a gain and give our friend Doug Chaffee another friend,” Briceño said.

While Whitaker downplayed the effect Trump has on the Republican party, longtime GOP strategist Stu Spencer — who ran Ronald Reagan’s gubernatorial and presidential campaigns — told Voice of OC in November that as long as Trump is on the ballot in 2020, any Republicans efforts to regain the House and gain local seats will be hampered.

“They got to nominate someone for president who’s going to be inclusive and not create a bunch of enemies in various groups. And they got to get candidates to run for offices who reflect that thinking,” Spencer said. “I think if Trump is the nominee again, these seats that they lost are going to be difficult. If they have another nominee, it’s going to be easier.”

Spencer also said the Republicans need to connect with the Latino community and back off the hardline stances on immigration the national GOP has taken since the rise of the Tea Party.

“Ever since the Tea Party raised their head, they have driven the Republican party to the right.

You can be a conservative without being an extremist. Of course, Prop. 187 in California was really a turning point. It started a fight with Chicanos, which, the best way to say it … I’ve been yelling at the Republican party about the Chicano issue for years,” Spencer said.

Moodian agreed with Spencer’s assessment and said, “This decline goes back to (Gov.) Pete Wilson and prop 187. This is when the GOP officially began alienating itself from the Latino electorate.”

Proposition 187 allowed law enforcement to conduct immigration status checks on arrestees and restricted programs like healthcare, public school enrollment and other social services to legal residents and citizens. The law was eventually killed in 1999 after a series of court battles and after Gov. Gray Davis withdrew the case from the federal appeals court.

Chapman University political science professor and elections expert Fred Smoller said Republicans need to pay more attention to the environment if they want to secure young voters for 2020, who mostly voted for Democrats in November.

“They’re shitting on the environment, alienating the young and new voters — it’s sad because we desperately need a two party system. One party rule is not good,” Smoller said.

He also said Democrats need to come up with some strong policy ideas heading into 2020.

“The Democrats, they also have to come up with some governing ideas. So far it’s just anti-Republican and I don’t see a positive discussion there — you can’t beat something with nothing,” Smoller said.

Robinson said strong Republican candidates may sit out until at least 2022 because Trump and the national Republicans’ effect on the elections is too strong to overcome.

“At least in the next two or three years, I don’t see a lot of hope for these seats. I think a lot of good (GOP) candidates are going to just wait,” Robinson said. “I think if a Democrat wins (the presidency) in 2020, the typical reaction is that the election of a president is usually followed by a counter reaction in the next term. It happened to Trump, it happened to (Barrack) Obama, it would’ve happened to (George W.) Bush, but 9/11 happened.”

Spencer Custodio is a Voice of OC staff reporter. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2019/01/looking-ahead-at-ocs-political-landscape/feed/0Irvine City Council Strengthens Lobbyist Policyhttps://voiceofoc.org/2019/01/irvine-city-council-strengthens-lobbyist-policy/
https://voiceofoc.org/2019/01/irvine-city-council-strengthens-lobbyist-policy/#respondThu, 10 Jan 2019 14:50:01 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=781057The Irvine City Council unanimously strengthened its conflict of interest policy by adding a provision to its contracts which says if a City Council member or employee lobbied on behalf of a city contractor, the contract can be voided with cause and the city will get reimbursed.

While there was a similar contract provision preventing employment of a city official by a city contractor, it didn’t address lobbying services — paid or unpaid.

Councilwoman Christina Shea said she brought the item forward after she learned former Councilman Jeff Lalloway helped Architecture, Engineering, Consulting, Operations and Maintenance (AECOM), a Los Angeles-based firm with an office in Irvine, try to get a contract for the Santa Ana streetcar project, Shea told Voice of OC after the meeting. For years, Shea and Lalloway were opponents on the Council. AECOM didn’t get the contract and Lalloway didn’t seek re-election last year.

“It was egregious what Jeff Lalloway did,” Shea said, accusing Lalloway of lobbying for AECOM in its unsuccessful bid for a streetcar contract with Orange County Transportation Authority.

“It was one of the most egregious things I ever saw a Council member do,” Shea said.

But Lalloway, in a phone interview Wednesday, said he didn’t get paid and was helping a local Irvine business.

“Well, number one, I didn’t lobby for anyone. I helped a local Irvine business, without any compensation. So, in order to lobby you got to receive money. I tried to help a local Irvine resident and a local Irvine business,” Lalloway said.

“I think it’s our job as council members to help local Irvine residents and businesses to get work,” Lalloway said.

“No we don’t, that’s absolutely not true,” Shea said in a Wednesday phone interview. “Who works six months for a company and doesn’t get paid?”

Lalloway wasn’t named in Shea’s agenda letter or by any Council member during Tuesday’s meeting.

Councilwoman Melissa Fox, an attorney, told Voice of OC the law is probably unconstitutional because it’s overreaching and affects income.

“But as council members, we’re not going to sue over it,” Fox said.

Fox and Shea said Irvine has a contract with AECOM for work in the Great Park that’s supposed to end in June, but it will now be terminated in February.

During the meeting, questions about enforcement of the lobbying regulations came up.

“Irvine should establish consequences for violations of this provision,” resident Susan Sayre said during public comment.

Councilman Anthony Kuo asked City Attorney Jeff Melching what the enforcement of the lobbying regulations are.

Melching said the ordinance regulating lobbying activities “says that a violation of the ordinance is to be referred to the city attorney for evaluation, or under certain circumstances the city manager … and that information is supposed to be relayed back to the violator.” He added the Council could beef up the regulation if it wants to.

Kuo said the enforcement mechanism doesn’t seem to do much.

“You’ve got the city attorney basically having a meeting with them saying don’t do that … it just seems like Mrs. Sayre and others’ points are quite well taken. That the city attorney who serves at the pleasure of the council is going to slap us on the wrist? That seems a little backwards,” Kuo said.

Mayor Don Wagner said the contract provision should be enough to address any conflict of interest from arising in the future.

“The idea, of course, is that this completely disincentivizes the client to ever seek that sort of counsel. Which is why I think it goes on the vendor side is quite appropriate,” Wagner said.

Fox said if the Council beefs up lobbying regulation enforcement, it could be used as a political weapon.

“It might be wielded more as a sword against an errant council member … by a council member in the majority, with an appointed city attorney, one could really think about the problems that would arise the future,” Fox said.

Fox echoed Wagner’s comments and said the burden should fall to the contractor because the city can nix the contract and get reimbursed should the lobbying stipulation be violated.

“So I think the way to do it to make sure there is no conflict of interest is indeed to put the onus on the contractor and put their contract in jeopardy, because that would be for cause,” Fox said.

Correction: A previous version of this story said Lalloway tried to help a firm get an Anaheim streetcar contract. It was a Santa Ana streetcar contract. Voice of OC regrets the error.

Spencer Custodio is a Voice of OC staff reporter. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio.

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2019/01/irvine-city-council-strengthens-lobbyist-policy/feed/0Homelessness in OC: 2018 Year in Reviewhttps://voiceofoc.org/2018/12/homelessness-in-oc-2018-year-in-review/
https://voiceofoc.org/2018/12/homelessness-in-oc-2018-year-in-review/#respondMon, 24 Dec 2018 14:02:15 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=762446The number of people sleeping on streets and under bridges in Orange County skyrocketed in recent years, affecting local residents, businesses, and people experiencing homelessness.

In 2018, OC saw more action toward getting homeless people off the streets and into shelter than any other time in recent memory. Spurred by a lawsuit and a federal judge, as well as frustration from residents and business owners, officials have promised to create more than 1,400 shelter beds – most of which are committed to in court-supervised settlement agreements.

And close to $1 billion may be on the table to create housing with supportive services for homeless people, with state and local leaders creating a regional agency to oversee the financing.

There are still a lot of details to be worked out – including how the shelters will operate, how public safety concerns will be addressed, and whether the housing will actually happen. Here’s a rundown of Orange County’s year in homelessness policy.

Riverbed Eviction Sparks a Lawsuit, and a Federal Judge Spurs Action

The riverbed camp – OC’s largest homeless encampment in years – had spurred complaints from nearby residents and businesses, who pointed to thefts, drug use, needles and human feces. (County supervisors and the Anaheim City Council had previously refused to allow portable bathrooms at the riverbed camp.)

Attorneys Brooke Weitzman and Carol Sobel filed a federal lawsuit against the county and three cities over the riverbed evictions, pointing to a shortage of shelter space in OC. Their suit alleged the county would be violating the U.S. Constitution by forcing homeless people into a situation where they’d be criminalized by anti-camping ordinances with no alternative place to sleep and avoid prosecution.

The suit was based on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2006 ruling in Jones v. City of Los Angeles, which found the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment prohibited a local government “from punishing involuntary sitting, lying, or sleeping on public sidewalks that is an unavoidable consequence of being human and homeless without shelter.”

The appeals court said that enforcement becomes illegal in Los Angeles when “there is a greater number of homeless individuals in Los Angeles than the number of available beds.”

The judge also grilled county officials about the county’s apparent accumulation of hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money that could help alleviate homelessness. “We’re done with chipmunking this money,” he told county officials.

The next day – which happened to be Valentine’s Day – county officials agreed to a plan to offer motel beds for 30 days to homeless people being evicted from the riverbed.

On Feb. 20, Carter allowed the riverbed evictions to proceed, but only if motel beds were offered and mental health outreach workers were the point of contact talking with homeless people, rather than sheriff’s deputies being the initial contact. And the judge was there throughout the evictions, closely monitoring the process.

Most of the money – $186 million – was unspent Mental Health Services Act money that was separate from reserves. The unspent money can be used for housing and services for the estimated 10 to 20 percent of homeless people with serious mental illnesses.

Minutes later, the supervisors’ chairman, Andrew Do, told the crowd of activists, homeless people, county officials and city managers there was no defense for their inaction.

“We don’t have a defense. I’m going to be the first to own up that we have failed,” Do said at the start of the hearing, to loud applause. “To lead requires we are proactive and not reactive, and we have failed,” he added, attributing it to “political paralysis” that also affects cities.

Do then announced the county would move to allocate $70 million of the unspent mental health dollars to help alleviate homelessness for people with severe mental illnesses.

Three-Shelter Proposal Falls Apart, While Court Pressure Continues

With hundreds of homeless people in 30-day motel stays from February to March, county supervisors faced pressure to find places for them to go next.

The federal judge held court meetings late into the night with county officials and lawyers for homeless people, going through cases of individual homeless people and whether the place the county wanted them to go – such as mental health facility or general shelter – was appropriate.

Among the problems the judge cited: women’s beds put in men’s sleeping areas due to a lack of space, people with serious mental illnesses being triggered by extremely crowded conditions at the Courtyard shelter, and women being told by county officials their option was to stay at an already-over-capacity shelter with men who they say sexually assaulted them.

Santa Ana Alleges Double-Standard Based on Wealth

For years, Santa Ana has hosted the most homeless shelter beds of any city in OC. And in late March, City Council members, residents, and Do pushed back at the refusal of wealthier Orange County communities to host emergency homeless shelters. They said it revealed a double standard: It’s okay to put shelters near poor kids but not near kids from wealthier families.

In court hearings in April, May, and June, Carter called on cities other than Santa Ana, Anaheim, and Fullerton – which host most of the existing shelter beds – to step up with a “proportional” share of new shelter beds. He warned repeatedly that without action, the court could invalidate anti-camping laws.

North County Cities Commit to Hundreds of New Shelter Beds

At a June 13 court hearing, three north Orange County cities committed to adding a total of 700 new homeless shelter beds at specific sites – on top of the more than 1,000 shelter beds already in north county – while south county mayors didn’t identify any potential shelter sites in their cities.

On Sept. 4, the federal appeals court handed Carter clearer authority to invalidate anti-camping ordinances. Its unanimous decision in Martin v. City of Boise expanded Jones to anti-camping laws and made it mandatory for federal judges in California and elsewhere in the Western U.S. to follow it.

“As long as there is no option of sleeping indoors, the government cannot criminalize indigent, homeless people for sleeping outdoors, on public property, on the false premise they had a choice in the matter,” the ruling states.

The first of these shelters, known as The Link, opened Nov. 15 in Santa Ana with a capacity of up to 200 beds. Some homeless people said the city was strictly limiting who was allowed at the shelter, though by early December about 125 people were staying there, according to city officials.

Over the course of the year, local officials have rethought the way they look at homelessness, said Weitzman, who represents homeless people in the ongoing lawsuit.

“They’re starting to take a real serious look at what it takes to allow someone to rebuild their life” and have dignity, Weitzman said in an interview.

Weitzman said she’s confident that in the next year or so, there will be a place for everyone in north county who wants shelter.

Where the New Shelters Stand

Under pressure from the lawsuit, officials have opened 200 new shelter beds with another 1,400-plus beds in the works:

The Link temporary shelter in Santa Ana (200 beds for two years): Opened Nov. 15 in an industrial building on Red Hill and Warner avenues, next to the 55 freeway and Tustin city border.

Anaheim emergency shelter near Angel Stadium (200 beds for up to 90 days): Short-term shelter opened Dec. 20 near Angel Stadium at 2040 S. State College Blvd., after the Anaheim City Council decided its other two shelters, which are scheduled to open in early 2019, won’t be up in time to help homeless people escape the winter weather.

Anaheim temporary shelter at Salvation Army’s “Center of Hope” (200 beds for about two years): Scheduled to open in January at the Salvation Army property at 1340 South Lewis St., and to remain open until the larger “phase two” shelter opens in late 2020.

Anaheim temporary shelter at former piano store (125 beds for up to three years): Shelter at 3035 East La Mesa St., next to the county-run Bridges at Kraemer Place shelter, with opening scheduled in February. Shelter would be operated by The Illumination Foundation.

Anaheim longer-term shelter at Salvation Army’s “Center of Hope” (400-600 beds, to replace the 200 temporary beds at this location): Scheduled to open in late 2020 at the Salvation Army property at 1340 South Lewis St.

Placentia shelter (80 to 100 beds): Location and opening date have not been announced. County supervisors recently authorized seeking state funds for the shelter. The beds would serve north county cities, not including Anaheim, and were agreed to in a legal settlement in the ongoing lawsuit.

Buena Park shelter (150 to 200 beds): Location and opening date have not been announced. County supervisors recently authorized seeking state funds for the shelter. The beds would serve north county cities, not including Anaheim, and were agreed to in a legal settlement in the ongoing lawsuit.

Tustin shelter (at least 50 beds): Proposed shelter at a former U.S. Army Reserve building at 2345 Barranca Parkway, next to the shopping center The District at Tustin Legacy. An earlier proposal, at the northeast corner of Red Hill and Valencia avenues, was met with significant backlash from residents citing its proximity to an elementary school, and the City Council changed the location Dec. 18.

Yale shelter in Santa Ana (600 beds, to replace the county’s roughly 400-person Courtyard shelter, for a net 200 new beds): The building, at 2229 S. Yale St., is being purchased by the county, with the sale expected to be finished by the end of February. County officials don’t expect the shelter to open for several additional months, if not longer.

Will South County Add a Homeless Shelter?

Carter has signaled he plans to shift his focus in the lawsuit to south county, where he wants to see a centrally-located “intake center” for homeless people. This would provide a place for local law enforcement in south county to take homeless people, rather than tying up their time driving to north county, the judge has said.

The central region Carter described seems to match with areas along the I-5 freeway in south county.

Another possibility is south county cities chipping in financially for the creation of shelter beds elsewhere, an approach used by the 16 cities of Salt Lake County, Utah as well as cities in north Orange County.

Sobel and Weitzman, the lawyers for homeless people, have been preparing an amended lawsuit to add several south county cities to the case, which could give the judge jurisdiction to limit anti-camping enforcement if the cities don’t move to expand shelters. The request would not include Laguna Beach, because it already hosts a homeless shelter open to single men and women, according to the lawyers.

Their plans to file the lawsuit expansion have been delayed several times in recent months, as details are worked out regarding the new Santa Ana and Anaheim shelters, as well as day-to-day issues like helping people get in to shelters, out of shelters, and deal with problems like bed bugs.

Officials familiar with internal city discussions say they do not expect south county cities will create a homeless shelter in their jurisdiction unless they’re forced to do so. South county cities, they added, have suggested they’re prepared to appeal any orders Carter might issue against anti-camping enforcement.

Conversation Grows Around Longer-Term Homeless Housing

While shelters can be a short-term improvement for people, solving homelessness requires longer-term housing options that are affordable, particularly for homeless people with severe disabilities, according to advocates and city and county officials.

The effort has backing from the Orange County United Way, which started an ad campaign after the November election noting that keeping a homeless person on the streets costs an estimated $100,759 per year, verses $51,587 if they’re in housing with support services, based on a UC Irvine study.

That same month, county supervisors started investing in supportive housing services by The Illumination Foundation, to house more than 60 of the most seriously ill homeless people. On-site staff include case managers, mental health workers, psychiatrists, therapists, housing navigators, and peer recovery counselors who have been through experiences similar to the homeless people.

Several major questions still need to be resolved for the new regional agency, commonly known as the housing trust, including the balance of power on its governing board, who its executive director will be, and how it will make decisions about which projects to finance.

Close to $1 Billion Potentially in Play for New Homeless Housing

The entire homeless housing effort’s price-tag is estimated at $900 million, according to Dan Young, a former Santa Ana mayor and Irvine Company homebuilding executive who has been closely involved in the housing trust effort.

The housing trust bill “puts the cities at the table,” for cities that choose to join the regional agency, Young told Carter and the public at a court hearing in June.

“You have a seat at the table for $900 million-worth of money.”

Nick Gerda covers county government and Santa Ana for Voice of OC. You can contact him at ngerda@voiceofoc.org.

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2018/12/homelessness-in-oc-2018-year-in-review/feed/0Possible Veteran & Civilian Cemetery in Anaheim Prompts OC Supervisor Clashhttps://voiceofoc.org/2018/12/possible-veteran-civilian-cemetery-in-anaheim-prompts-oc-supervisor-clash/
https://voiceofoc.org/2018/12/possible-veteran-civilian-cemetery-in-anaheim-prompts-oc-supervisor-clash/#respondThu, 06 Dec 2018 15:03:26 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=742208Orange County supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to transfer county property on the eastern edge of Anaheim for potential development as a veteran and civilian cemetery, as they clashed over whether it would let Irvine “off the hook” for a proposed veterans cemetery at the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro.

The action to transfer the 283-acre Anaheim property, known as Mountain Park, to the Orange County Cemetery District was encouraged by several of the veterans who have been working for decades to establish a cemetery in Orange County for former military service members.

“We’re dying,” Berardino said of his fellow veterans. “We’re dying. We have no place to go.”

The Mountain Park property lies to the east of Anaheim Hills, just east of the 91 and 241 freeway interchange. Under the county’s agreement to transfer the land, which was overseen by Supervisor Todd Spitzer, up to half of the burial space at the property can be reserved for non-veterans, and cemetery district officials would have up to 10 years to conduct the first burial at the site.

The map below shows a rough approximation of the Mountain Park location based on planning documents. If the map below does not display properly, please click here to view.

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The number of potential burial sites at the property was not mentioned in the county agenda documents nor the supervisors’ nearly hour-long discussion Tuesday.

It also was unclear how long it would take to build a veterans cemetery at Mountain Park, and how it would be paid for, in comparison with a previously-designated site at the former El Toro base.

For the El Toro property, known as the ARDA site, Irvine officials recently said more than than $275 million in city-controlled funds related to the former El Toro base were potentially available to cover the estimated $91 million in costs for the first phase of cemetery development at the former base.

The map below shows rough approximations of the Irvine locations based on planning documents. If the map below does not display properly, please click here to view. The ARDA site is shown in orange and the potential alternate site located on the golf course property in grey.

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The Mountain Park property would be significantly more costly than the El Toro site, according to county officials, and the only identified funding source Tuesday was an estimated $8 million to $10 million in cemetery district reserves.

Spitzer, who led the Mountain Park discussions, and Supervisor Shawn Nelson, who has supported Spitzer in recent months, said the supervisors’ action simply moves the ball forward on a veterans cemetery, and that it’s completely separate from what ends up happening at El Toro.

“We need to preserve the history and the memory of our veterans and the sacrifice they made…This is a county that’s rich in its veterans’ history,” Spitzer said, adding the supervisors move creates options for a veterans cemetery at the Mountain Park property.

Referring to the El Toro site, Spitzer said: “If that venue or avenue fails, the question is: Will there be an alternative opportunity in Orange County? And today, if the City of Irvine cannot deliver a cemetery…in a reasonable period of time, this [Mountain Park] option leaves the Board of Supervisors in the driver’s seat to help facilitate and make that dream come true.”

Supervisor Lisa Bartlett, emphasizing she wants to see a veterans cemetery actually be built, said her colleagues were creating cover to abandon efforts to create a veterans cemetery at the former El Toro base, so Five Point Communities – the developer of other former El Toro properties and the largest campaign donor to the Irvine City Council – can buy the land and turn it into a hotel and homes.

“If the county moves forward with regard to the Mountain Park site, there could potentially be a giveaway of something worth hundreds of millions of dollars benefitting the City of Irvine and the developer [Five Point],” Bartlett said.

“The ARDA site, where [Five Point] has a first right of [purchase], that’s a very valuable property. It could be developed with hotels and residences and such, and there’s hundreds of millions of dollars that benefit both the city and a developer within the city of Irvine,” Bartlett said.

Spitzer said the Mountain Park transfer doesn’t get in the way of Irvine’s decision on whether to use the El Toro base for a veterans cemetery.

“This isn’t a way of stopping anything. It doesn’t stop Irvine – the city, any of its partners, from planning a veterans cemetery in any way whatsoever,” said Spitzer, who departs his supervisor post on Jan. 7 to take office as district attorney.

Efforts apparently have stalled to create a veterans cemetery at the previously-designated ARDA site at the former El Toro base.

A majority of Irvine City Council members received major financial support from Five Point in their election campaigns. Should Irvine sell the ARDA land, a city agreement gives Five Point the first right to buy it, and the city has agreed to allow up to two hotels and 250 homes there.

Five Point spent hundreds of thousands of dollars backing a June ballot measure in Irvine to open up the ARDA site to private development, by switching it with another site, known as Strawberry Fields, closer to the 5 freeway, for development as a veterans cemetery. Irvine voters rejected the property swap measure, 63 percent to 37 percent.

There also were questions at Tuesday’s meeting about how feasible the Anaheim site is in comparison with the El Toro site, which is now part of an area being developed into the Orange County Great Park, given reportedly higher costs for converting the steeper Anaheim land into a cemetery and a lack of public information about how the higher costs would be covered.

Bartlett said terrain issues at the Mountain Park property make it “substantially more costly” to develop into a cemetery than the $91 million Irvine estimates for the El Toro site.

Irvine city officials estimate an alternate veterans cemetery site at the former El Toro base, known as the “Golf Course” property, would cost $59 million to develop into a veterans cemetery.

Bartlett asked the other county supervisors to allow the release of a county staff memo analyzing the costs of creating a cemetery at the Mountain Park property. The other supervisors declined to do so.

Regarding the staff analysis of the Mountain Park cost, Spitzer wondered aloud, “What was the motivation, and what does it mean?”

“To put a price tag in an equation of other land deals,” Spitzer said, “with the price that the veterans paid to get ripped as 18 year-olds out of their home towns, and to go across overseas to fight in a foreign nation…And then to come back and be spat on and not get their ticker-tape parades, and [to] have to deal with the hatred of a generation of young people who at that time didn’t have much respect for their country – who would rather, I guess, be in flip-flops and do acid trips, you know, at Woodstock.”

Bartlett said she fully supports a veterans cemetery, but that the Mountain Park action lets others “off the hook.”

The county received the 283-acre Mountain Park property from The Irvine Company as part of the company’s larger gift of 2,500 acres in 2014, and the supervisors’ action Tuesday transfers it to the cemetery district at no cost.

At the end of the discussion, all five supervisors, including Bartlett, voted to transfer the Mountain Park property to the cemetery district, a public agency that builds and manages burial grounds in OC.

Voice of OC staff writer Spencer Custodio contributed to this story.

Nick Gerda covers county government and Santa Ana for Voice of OC. You can contact him at ngerda@voiceofoc.org.

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2018/12/possible-veteran-civilian-cemetery-in-anaheim-prompts-oc-supervisor-clash/feed/0Final OC Election Results: Democrats Win Big as GOP Looks to 2020https://voiceofoc.org/2018/11/final-oc-election-results-democrats-win-big-as-gop-looks-to-2020/
https://voiceofoc.org/2018/11/final-oc-election-results-democrats-win-big-as-gop-looks-to-2020/#respondSat, 01 Dec 2018 05:16:25 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=737365Orange County election officials finished counting ballots Friday night and released the final results from the Nov. 6 election, in which midterm voters turned out at the highest rate in decades and Democrats gained major wins in local Congressional and state legislative seats.

With 71.0 percent of registered voters casting ballots, this was OC’s highest-turnout midterm election since 1970, according to data from county election officials. A higher share of people voted than in the 2012 presidential general election, when turnout was just over 67 percent.

The high voter turnout this year is believed to have helped Democrats, whose turnout tends to trail Republicans, particularly in non-presidential elections that have overall low turnout.

And the Democrats scored big – flipping all four of OC’s Republican-held Congressional seats, picking up two Republican state legislative seats, and a county supervisor seat.

The final results in Orange County were posted at 9 p.m. Friday.

It took 3.5 weeks to count the OC ballots, with late-counted ballots trending towards Democrats. That led some Republican officials to question the results. On Thursday, U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan reiterated those concerns and called California’s voting system “bizarre.”

Election officials say the tallying length was due to the sheer volume of ballots and larger number of ballots cast on paper – such as mail and provisional ballots – which take longer to count.

“Since this is the largest turnout midterm election since 1970, and matches presidential volume, the counting time actually matches similar election volumes,” said Neal Kelley, the Orange County registrar of voters.

Both parties will be tested again in March, when a special election is expected for Todd Spitzer’s 3rd District seat. Officially, supervisor seats are nonpartisan and do not have party designations on the ballot.

The county prosecutor’s office will also see a big shift, with voters ousting 20-year District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and picking Spitzer to lead the office, after prosecutors under Rackauckas were caught illegally cheating in criminal cases and withholding key evidence from defendants they were required to hand over.

“The losses in California and here in Orange County can only be described as catastrophic,” OC Republican Party Chairman Fred Whitaker wrote in a post-election newsletter.

“As a matter of fact, on many of the preliminary vote totals we’ve been looking at – significant numbers of Republicans we turned out, look to have voted Democrat. Whether it was on healthcare or the limitations on mortgage interest and state tax deductions, some of our voters defected,” he added.

OC Democrats also benefitted from tens of millions of dollars in outside spending for their Congressional candidates through ads and door-to-door outreach, which was seen as a driver in getting more Democrats to cast ballots.

Republicans have been losing voters for years in Orange County and statewide, as the number of voters who don’t declare a party grows.

Election experts said President Donald Trump contributed to this year’s GOP losses, and efforts by national Democrats helping Congressional campaigns spilled over into state legislative races.

“The get-out-the-vote efforts [by Democrats] and the turnout by those who were voting for Democrats for Congress, I think many people who voted for Democrats in Congress also voted for Dems for state Assembly and state Senate,” said Mike Moodian, a political science professor at Chapman University and Brandman University.

Whitaker, referring to OC Republicans, said in his newsletter: “We have to get in the game and fight back…We are all in for 2020. The Democrats can keep our seats warm for us. But in 2020 we will take them back.”

OC congressional and state legislative districts dip into three other counties – LA, San Diego, and San Bernardino. While LA County finished counting ballots Friday, the other two apparently had not, though the vote margins in the key OC races are too large for the outcomes to change based on the remaining ballots in other counties.

Democrats Flipped All 4 Republican Congressional Seats in OC

National Democrats targeted the 39th, 45th, 48th and 49th Congressional districts (held by Republicans Ed Royce, Mimi Walters, Dana Rohrabacher, and Darrell Issa, respectively) after Hillary Clinton took all of the districts in the 2016 election against Trump.

Royce and Issa chose not to run for re-election, while Walters and Rohrabacher tried to keep their seats but didn’t succeed.

The winning Democrats who take office in early January are Gil Cisneros, Katie Porter, Harley Rouda, and Mike Levin.

Nationally, Democrats netted 39 Congressional seats in this election, surpassing the 23 they needed to win a majority in the 435-member U.S. House of Representatives.

OC Dems Gained Two State Seats, Ousting Nguyen and Harper

Two of the election surprises were the ousting of Republican state legislators in western and coastal Orange County: state Sen. Janet Nguyen of Garden Grove and Assemblyman Matt Harper of Huntington Beach.

Harper lost to Democrat Cottie Petrie-Norris in the coastal 74th Assembly District, and Nguyen lost to former Assemblyman Tom Umberg in the 34th Senate District that includes eastern Long Beach and the entire cities of Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Fountain Valley, Westminster, Seal Beach, Los Alamitos.

The flipping of their seats adds to the Democrats’ supermajorities they gained in the state Legislature in this election.

With their two-thirds supermajority, Democrats can raise state taxes, override vetoes, and suspend legislative rules without needing Republican votes.

Nguyen was elected to the 34th District in 2014, after serving on the Garden Grove City Council beginning in 2004 and the Orange County Board of Supervisors from 2007 until she went to the Senate.

During an earlier part of this decade when Nguyen was a county supervisor, she demonstrated how a county supervisor could use their power over doctors and hospitals at CalOptima, the county-run health plan for low-income and disabled residents, to fundraise campaign money for themselves.

Republicans did not pick up any OC-based state legislative seats in the November election. But earlier in the year, during the June primary, the GOP succeeded in recalling OC Democrat state Sen. Josh Newman of Fullerton and replacing him with Republican Ling Ling Chang, who will hold the seat until at least 2020, when it’s up for re-election.

Democrats Flip Republican County Supervisor Seat

Democrats gained their first county supervisor seat since 2006, with Fullerton Mayor Doug Chaffee beating Republican La Habra Mayor Tim Shaw for the north OC-based 4th District seat of Shawn Nelson. Nelson couldn’t run because he is termed out.

The five-member Board of Supervisors oversees the $6 billion county administration of homelessness, mental health, social services, law enforcement, public works and other services.

There’s a New DA in Town (And Sheriff)

Supervisor Todd Spitzer, after years of eyeing the top DA job and $2 million in fundraising, ousted incumbent DA Tony Rackauckas, whose office was mired in controversy over a cheating scandal in which prosecutors’ conduct has led to dismissed or reduced charges in at least half a dozen criminal cases.

OC Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who is on track to take over the District Attorney’s Office from Rackauckas in January, has begun laying out his plans for the county prosecutors office.

In interviews after the election, Spitzer said he plans to step up prosecutions of hate crimes, will meet regularly with communities that feel they’re treated unfairly by law enforcement, will not evaluate prosecutors based on conviction rates, will be more transparent with the public, and will hold police officers and prosecutors accountable.

In the county sheriff race, Undersheriff Don Barnes beat Democrat LA County District Attorney investigator Duke Nugyen in the run to replace retiring Sheriff Sandra Hutchens. Barnes, whose largest campaign support came from the sheriff’s deputies union, was endorsed by Hutchens and is seen largely as continuing many of her main policies.

Barnes has called for keeping the county’s contract with jail phones provider GTL, after it was revealed the contractor was illegally recording inmate phone calls with their attorneys – a felony in California – and efforts by Spitzer and Nelson to cancel the contract.

Barnes said GTL has taken steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again, and recommended hiring a second contractor to make sure GTL is following the rules when it comes to recording.

Another Republican Supervisor Seat Opens Up in March

With Spitzer, a Republican, planning to step down as a county supervisor on Jan. 7 to take over as DA, a special election for his seat will be held in March.

In comparison with Nelson’s seat, Republicans have more of a structural advantage with Spitzer’s replacement when it comes in voter registration and that election’s timing.

Democrats had a 10 percentage-point voter registration advantage in the 4th District supervisor seat they flipped in the recent election. But Republicans have the voter registration advantage in Spitzer’s 3rd District seat, where they’re ahead of the Democrats by 3 percentage points.

Additionally, Republicans tend to have more of an advantage in special elections, due to lower overall turnout widening Republicans’ higher-turnout advantage.

Already, five candidates are known to have announced bids for Spitzer’s seat, with one dropping out and backing a fellow Democrat.

On the Republican side, the known candidates are Anaheim Councilman Kris Murray and Irvine Mayor Don Wagner.

The Democrats who announced bids are former Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, former Irvine Mayor Beth Krom, and former 39th Congressional District candidate Andy Thorburn.

Krom announced last week she was dropping out and endorsing Sanchez for the supervisor seat.

Instead, Krom said she would be running for chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County, after current chair Fran Sdao announced she’d be stepping down.

Disney Appears to Regain Majority on Anaheim City Council

The incoming members are Mayor Harry Sidhu and councilmen-elect Jordan Brandman and Trevor O’Neil. They will join fellow Disney-backed Councilwoman Lucille Kring.

Councilman Jose Moreno, a critic of city taxpayer-funded subsidies to Disney, was also re-elected and is slated to be in the minority on the council.

Santa Ana: Pulido Wins Re-Election But No Obvious Council Majority

In Santa Ana, Mayor Miguel Pulido won re-election over Councilman Sal Tinajero, who challenged him for the mayor’s seat, though Pulido won by his narrowest margin since at least 1998.

Also elected to the council were David Penaloza, who was supported by the city police officers’ union; former Councilman Roman Reyna; and Ceci Iglesias; a local school board member and Republican Party-endorsed candidate. It appeared no single major interest group in the city had a clear majority on the council.

Among the intrigue surrounding the Santa Ana election was $170,000 in dark money that was routed into ads supporting Tinajero, Reyna and council candidate Sandra “Pocha” Peña Sarmiento, and opposing Reyna’s sole opponent, Phil Bacerra.

The campaign committee that handled the money is now under state investigation, and appears to be linked to Pam Sapetto, a lobbyist for real estate developers in the city.

About three weeks after the election, on Nov. 26, Sapetto said she was not currently involved in the dark money groups. She did not respond when asked if she was previously involved.

Pulido is now termed out from the mayor’s seat, with the next mayoral election in 2020. That means the incumbent mayor won’t be on the ballot for the first time since 1996, when he ran for his his first re-election as mayor.

Nick Gerda covers county government and Santa Ana for Voice of OC. You can contact him at ngerda@voiceofoc.org.

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2018/11/final-oc-election-results-democrats-win-big-as-gop-looks-to-2020/feed/0Dems Leading in All OC Congressional Districts With Latest Resultshttps://voiceofoc.org/2018/11/dems-leading-in-all-oc-congressional-districts-with-latest-results/
https://voiceofoc.org/2018/11/dems-leading-in-all-oc-congressional-districts-with-latest-results/#respondSat, 17 Nov 2018 03:04:08 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=721921Democrats were leading in all four Republican-held Congressional districts in Orange County as of Friday’s ongoing election count, putting the party on track to win all seven OC Congressional districts.

Democrat Gil Cisneros, who was behind in the first week of vote counting for the 39th District, took the lead Thursday, and expanded his lead Friday, from 941 votes to 3,020 votes, over Republican Young Kim.

“It’s a revolution. I don’t know of any time where there wasn’t any time of some number [of] Republican representation [in the U.S. House of Representatives]” in Orange County’s Congressional delegation, said Fred Smoller, a Chapman University political scientist and California elections expert.

In other Orange County races, the leader for the north county-based 4th District county supervisor race shifted to a Democrat Friday, with days of gains by Doug Chaffee pushing him nine votes ahead of Republican Tim Shaw out of about 129,000 counted so far.

And the results continued to narrow in the 34th State Senate District, where Republican Sen. Janet Nguyen’s lead over Democrat Tom Umberg fell further, from 1.3 percentage points to 0.8 points, since the prior day’s update.

In the 39th Congressional District, Kim had a 5.2 percentage-point lead at the end of election night, but the vote tally later swung in Cisneros’ favor Thursday, when he took a 0.45 percentage point lead. That increased Friday to 1.4 percent, or 3,020 votes.

During the campaign, Kim, a former Assemblywoman, and fellow Republicans railed against state Democrats’ 12-cent gas tax increase, and largely avoided the national Republican talking points of immigration and the recent GOP tax cut law.

Cisneros is a U.S. Navy veteran and former shipping manager for the Frito-Lay potato chips company. He won $266 million in the 2010 California Lottery and started a foundation with his wife that funds educational opportunities for students.

National Democrats targeted OC’s 39th, 45th, 48th and 49th Congressional districts after Hillary Clinton led each of the districts — including the countywide vote — against Donald Trump in 2016.

“Trump was the accelerant. He certainly pushed them over the top…I think we turned the corner and now have a competitive party system” in Orange County, Smoller said.

Republicans held 7-point advantage in Orange County voter registration over Democrats in 2012, the first election under the current Congressional district boundaries. Heading into the 2018 general election, Republicans held a 4-point lead over Democrats. During that same time frame, no party preference voters grew from 23 to 26 percentage points.

About 88 percent of Orange County’s total estimated ballots had been counted and reported as of Thursday evening.

About three more rounds of counts the size of Friday’s remain, based on the estimate of outstanding ballots and rate of counting.

Below is a run-down of updated vote counts in some of the county’s key races. Daily 5 p.m. updates are scheduled for each of the next few days, except Sunday. There also will be no updates on Thursday and Friday of next week, due to Thanksgiving.

Congressional Races

39th Congressional District

Gil Cisneros (D): 110,794 votes, 50.69%

Young Kim (R): 107,774 votes, 49.31%

Cisneros took a narrow lead Thursday of about half of 1 percent, or 941 votes, which on Friday grew to 1.4 points, or 3,020 votes. Updated figures are calculated based on vote counts from Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

45th Congressional District

Katie Porter (D): 143,144 votes, 51.4%

Mimi Walters (R, Incumbent): 135,120 votes, 48.6%

Porter took the lead in Tuesday’s update, and her lead grew from 0.2 percentage points that day to 2.4 points on Thursday and 2.8 points Friday. Porter was leading by 8,024 votes Friday.

48th Congressional District

Harley Rouda (D): 140,323 votes, 53.2%

Dana Rohrabacher (R, Incumbent): 123,401 votes, 46.8%

Rouda’s lead over Rohrabacher increased from 5.8 percentage points to 6.4 points since the prior day’s update. As of Friday’s update, Rouda was ahead by 16,922 votes.

49th Congressional District

Mike Levin (D): 139,450 votes, 55.5%

Diane Harkey (R): 111,778 votes, 44.5%

Levin’s wide lead grew further, from 10.8 to 11 points, since the prior day’s update. Updated figures are calculated based on vote counts reported from Orange and San Diego counties. Friday’s update had Levin with a 27,672-vote lead.

State-Level Races

34th State Senate

Janet Nguyen (R, Incumbent): 118,965 votes, 50.4%

Tom Umberg (D): 117,117 votes, 49.6%

Nguyen’s lead dropped from 18 percentage points on election night, to 5.6 points on Saturday, to 0.8 points Friday. She was leading by 1,848 votes Friday. Updated figures are calculated based on vote counts from Orange and Los Angeles counties.

74th State Assembly

Cottie Petrie-Norris (D): 94,057 votes, 52.3%

Matthew Harper (R, Incumbent): 85,656 votes, 47.7%

Harper was ahead on election night, but Petrie-Norris pulled ahead Nov. 8 with a 0.4 percentage-point lead, which increased to a 4.0 point lead as of Thursday and 4.6 points on Friday. Petrie-Norris was leading by 8,401 votes after Friday’s count.

County-Level Races

Fourth District Supervisor

Doug Chaffee (D): 66,859 votes, 50.003%

Tim Shaw (R): 66,850 votes, 49.997%

Chaffee took the lead Friday by nine votes out of 133,709 votes counted so far, after gaining in the days of counting after Election Day.

District Attorney

Todd Spitzer (R): 435,620 votes, 53.4%

Tony Rackauckas (R, Incumbent): 380,151 votes, 46.6%

Spitzer’s significant lead held at 6.8 points, or 55,469 votes. Rackauckas would need more than 74 percent of the estimated remaining votes in order to win, and the trend so far has been favorable to Spitzer.

“I congratulate Ms. Porter on her victory. It has been a tremendous honor and responsibility representing the people of the 45th district,” Walters wrote in a Facebook and Twitter post.

California State University, Fullerton political science professor Stephen Stambough, an elections scholar, said Democrats are on track to represent all seven of Orange County’s Congressional Districts.

“Democrats in Orange County have got to be thrilled. Not just for the 45th, but it looks like the 39th is going that way as well,” Stambough said.

Walters was virtually tied with Porter in a Nov. 2 poll from the New York Times leading up to the election. In September, Porter was ahead in the New York Times poll by five percent, just above the 4.5-point margin of error.

The 56-year-old Walters, first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014, has enjoyed landslide victories in the district, easily winning by double-digits in 2014 and 2016. She’s a former investment banker and started her political career on the Laguna Niguel City Council in 1996, then served two terms in the state Assembly starting in 2004 and then the state Senate from 2008 to 2014.

Porter’s win is another victory for national Democrats, who targeted the 39th, 45th, 48th and 49th Congressional Districts after Hillary Clinton took all four — including the overall Orange County vote — in the 2016 election against Donald Trump. The Associated Press has declared Democratic victories in the 45th, 48th and 49th districts, so far. As of Friday, Democrats took the majority of the 435-member House.

Republicans in Orange County largely avoided national issues and instead railed against the state’s 12-cent gas tax and urged voters to vote “yes” on Proposition 6, which would have repealed the gas tax and would have required voter approval for future gas tax and vehicle fees.

The 44-year-old Porter, a consumer protection attorney, also railed against the gas tax and broke with the Democratic party.

“I can’t support higher taxes on Orange County families right now, especially given that Mimi Walters raised taxes…on middle class Orange County families … We obviously need infrastructure [improvements] in California and the region. This tax doesn’t do that for our community locally,” she told Voice of OC in September.

Porter, also a University of California, Irvine professor, criticized the Republican tax bill, advocated for higher taxes on corporations and medicare for all.

Stambough said, because of Trump, national issues didn’t favor Republicans and they should have instead focused on local issues like the homelessness crisis instead of the gas tax.

“As long as it’s nationalized in this area … it’s going to hurt the Republicans. So if the Republicans want to try to make it not nationalized, they have to go to issues much more area specific,” Stambough said. “For Orange County people, it’s not the gas tax — it’s homelessness. Come up with something along that line.”

In 2012, the first year after redistricting, Republicans held 43 percent of registered voters, a 15-point advantage over Democrats. Heading into 2018 Election Day, the Republican registration advantage fell to 36 percent of the vote, while Democrats made up 30.5 percent of voters. During that time, no party preference voters increased from 24 percent to 30 percent to 29 percent of voters.

As of Friday morning, before the evening ballot count update, Porter was ahead of Walters by 6,203 votes, or 2.4 points. When the first rounds of ballot counts were released Election Day, Walters was ahead of porter by 5.4 percentage points and by the end of election night, the gap narrowed to 3.4 points. The gap kept narrowing until Porter took the lead Nov. 13 by 261 votes, or 0.2 points and her lead has been increasing with each daily update.

Stambough said the district is still competitive and Democrats need to work to keep the seat, along with the other Congressional Districts.

“At the same time, it (the vote) didn’t go Democratic by a lot. Democrats might say demographic changes and Trump may still be unpopular in the area … but it’s still a competitive area,” he said. “Democrats should be excited, though they shouldn’t be too excited. It’s going to take a lot of work to keep the gains. It’s not something anybody thought would happen 10 years ago.”

Spencer Custodio is a Voice of OC reporter who covers south Orange County and Fullerton. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2018/11/rep-walters-concedes-defeat-to-democrat-porter-in-45th-congressional-district/feed/0Latest OC Election Results (Nov. 14): Kim Hangs Onto Small Lead in Key Congressional Districthttps://voiceofoc.org/2018/11/latest-oc-election-results-nov-14-kim-hangs-onto-small-lead-in-key-congressional-district/
https://voiceofoc.org/2018/11/latest-oc-election-results-nov-14-kim-hangs-onto-small-lead-in-key-congressional-district/#respondThu, 15 Nov 2018 03:10:27 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=719658Republican Young Kim hung onto a small lead over Democratic candidate Gil Cisneros in the 39th Congressional District, while Orange County’s three other Republican-held Congressional districts were on track to flip blue, according to Wednesday’s updated ballot count.

Kim’s lead fell Wednesday from 711 votes to 122 votes, out of 198,880 votes reported so far – or from 0.4 percentage points to 0.06 points.

It’s the first time the 39th, 45th, 48th and 49th congressional districts –long considered Republican strongholds – have been seen as competitive races in recent history.

“It’s a hell of lot more competitive (countywide) and I don’t think we’re going backwards … This is no longer a red county, we’re a purple county and our survey data suggests we’re … looking like the rest of the country in terms of moderation on key issues — DACA, climate change, immigration, the role of the federal government resolving these problems,” said Fred Smoller, Chapman University political science professor and California politics expert.

National Democrats targeted the four Congressional districts after Hillary Clinton took all of the Republican districts in the 2016 election against Donald Trump.

This year, Democrats are on track to surpass their national goal of taking 23 seats from Republicans in their effort to secure the majority of the 435-member U.S. House of Representatives.

Three other districts inside or touching Orange County have Democratic incumbents. Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Whittier) holds the 38th district seat, which barely touches Orange County by encompassing the small city of La Palma. Sanchez easily won re-election this year.

Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) holds the 47th District seat, which stretches from Long Beach to parts of Westminster and Garden Grove and encompasses Cypress and Los Alamitos. Like Sanchez, Lowenthal easily won re-election this year.

Congressman Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) who holds the 46th District seat which includes Santa Ana, Anaheim and parts of Orange, also won his reelection by a landslide.

Smoller said it could be the first time Democrats have held all Congressional seats in Orange County.

“I don’t think ever, quite frankly [about Democratic control],” Smoller said. “But I think you could safely say that certainly since the end of the Great Depression, the seats have been dominated by Republicans.”

Democrats have held the 38th, 46th and 47th congressional districts since the 2011 redistricting.

In the 34th State Senate District, incumbent Republican Sen. Janet Nguyen’s lead over Democrat Tom Umberg continued to narrow, from 18 percentage points on election night to 5.6 points on Saturday to 2 points on Wednesday. Several more rounds of results remain, based on the estimate of outstanding ballots and rate of counting.

Roughly 81 percent of the total estimated ballots in OC have been counted and reported.

There were 59,140 Orange County ballots added to Wednesday’s count, with an estimated 202,460 ballots left to count.

Below is a run-down of updated vote counts in some of the county’s key races. Daily 5 p.m. updates are scheduled over the coming days.

Congressional Races

39th Congressional District

Young Kim (R): 99,501 votes, 50.0%

Gil Cisneros (D): 99,379 votes, 50.0%

Kim’s lead fell from 0.4 percentage points to 0.06 points since the prior day’s update, or from 711 votes to 122 votes. Updated figures are calculated based on vote counts from Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. LA county didn’t update Wednesday and is scheduled to update their count Friday.

45th Congressional District

Katie Porter (D): 126,574 votes, 50.8%

Mimi Walters (R, Incumbent): 122,777 votes, 49.2%

Porter took the lead in Tuesday’s update, and was ahead of Walters by 0.2 percentage points. The lead grew to 1.6 percent, or 3,797 votes.

48th Congressional District

Harley Rouda (D): 126,536 votes, 52.7%

Dana Rohrabacher (R, Incumbent): 113,574 votes, 47.3%

Rouda’s lead over Rohrabacher increased from 4.6 percentage points to 5.4 points since the prior day’s update. As of Wednesday’s update, Rouda was ahead by 12,962 votes.

49th Congressional District

Mike Levin (D): 128,665 votes, 55.1%

Diane Harkey (R): 104,794 votes, 44.9%

Levin’s lead grew from 10 to 10.2 points since the prior day’s update. Updated figures are calculated based on vote counts reported from Orange and San Diego counties. Wednesday’s update had Levin with a 23,871-vote lead.

State-Level Races

65th State Assembly

Sharon Quirk-Silva (D, Incumbent): 57,974 votes, 55.4%

Alexandria “Alex” Coronado (R): 46,765 votes, 44.6%

Quirk-Silva’s lead increased from 9.8 points to 10.8 percentage points since the prior day’s update. As of Wednesday’s update, Quirk-Silva was ahead by 11,209 votes.

74th State Assembly

Cottie Petrie-Norris (D): 83,962 votes, 51.8%

Matthew Harper (R, Incumbent): 78,156 votes, 48.2%

Harper was ahead on election night, but Petrie-Norris pulled ahead Nov. 8 with a 0.4 percentage-point lead, which increased to a 2.2 point lead with Wednesday’s update. Petrie-Norris’ lead increased to 3.6 points, or 5,806 votes after Wednesday’s count.

34th State Senate District

Janet Nguyen (R, Incumbent): 109,192 votes, 51.0%

Tom Umberg (D): 104,766 votes, 49.0%

Nguyen’s lead dropped from 18 percentage points on election night, to 5.6 points on Saturday, to 2.0 percentage points Wednesday, or 4,426 votes. Updated figures are calculated based on vote counts from Orange and Los Angeles counties.

County-Level Races

Fourth District Supervisor

Tim Shaw (R): 61,374 votes, 50.2%

Doug Chaffee (D): 60,943 votes, 49.8%

Shaw’s lead narrowed slightly since the prior day’s update, from 0.6 points to 0.4 points, or 431 votes.

District Attorney

Todd Spitzer (R): 396,262 votes, 53.3%

Tony Rackauckas (R, Incumbent): 346,890 votes, 46.7%

Spitzer’s significant lead held at 6.6 percentage points, or 49,372 votes, since the prior day’s update.

City Races

Anaheim Mayor

Sidhu’s lead narrowed in the latest update, from 3.6 percentage points to 2.8 points, or 1,861 votes.

Anaheim City Council, District 2

Jordan Brandman: 3,720 votes, 41.0%

James Derek Vanderbilt: 2,765 votes, 30.5%

Brandman continues to have a lead, which stood at 10.5 points, or 955 votes, in Wednesday’s update.

Anaheim City Council, District 3

Jose F. Moreno (Incumbent): 4,645 votes, 52.9%

Mitch Caldwell: 2,758 votes, 31.4%

Moreno continues to have a significant lead, which stood at 21.5 points — 1,887 votes — in Wednesday’s update.

Anaheim City Council, District 6

Trevor O’Neil: 9,024 votes, 45.8%

Patty Gaby: 6,789 votes, 34.5%

O’Neil continues to have a significant lead, which stood at 11 points in Wednesday’s update, or a 2,235-vote lead.

Anaheim Measure L

Yes: 35,192, 52.2%

No: 32,171 votes, 47.8%

The measure gained slightly in the latest update, going from a 3.8 percentage point lead to 4.4 points. The yes vote was ahead by 3,021 votes as of Wednesday’s updated tally.

Santa Ana Mayor

Miguel Pulido (Incumbent): 21,512 votes, 51.2%

Sal Tinajero: 20,477 votes, 48.8%

Pulido’s lead narrowed slightly, from 3.8 percentage points to 2.4 points, since the prior day’s update. As of Wednesday, Pulido was ahead by 1,035 votes.

Santa Ana City Council, Ward 2

David Penaloza: 11,139 votes, 27.7%

Sandra Pena Sarmiento: 8,026 votes, 20.0%

Penaloza continued to have a wide lead, which stood at 7.7 percent in Wednesday’s update, the same as the prior day’s update. Penaloza was ahead by 3,113 votes as of Wednesday’s count.

Santa Ana City Council, Ward 4

Roman Reyna: 21,943 votes, 54.7%

Phil Bacerra: 18,141 votes, 45.3%

Reyna’s wide lead grew slightly from the prior day’s update, from 8.2 points to 9.4 percentage points. As of Wednesday, Reyna was ahead by 3,802 votes.

Santa Ana City Council, Ward 6

Cecilia “Ceci” Iglesias: 15,848 votes, 39.1%

Nelida Medoza: 13,592 votes, 33.5%

Iglesias’ wide lead narrowed slightly from the prior update on Tuesday, from 6.7 points to 5.6 points. As of Wednesday, Iglesias was ahead by 2,256 votes.

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2018/11/latest-oc-election-results-nov-14-kim-hangs-onto-small-lead-in-key-congressional-district/feed/0Irvine City Council Doubles Reward for Information on Hate Crimehttps://voiceofoc.org/2018/11/irvine-city-council-doubles-reward-for-information-on-hate-crime-doubles/
https://voiceofoc.org/2018/11/irvine-city-council-doubles-reward-for-information-on-hate-crime-doubles/#respondWed, 14 Nov 2018 15:06:38 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=719312(Editors Note: Kali Hoffman is a student journalist at Chapman University participating in the Voice of OC Youth Media program.)

Irvine City Council members voted unanimously on Tuesday night to join Anti-Defamation League (ADL) efforts establishing a reward for information in a recent hate crime incident against Congregation Beth Jacob, an Irvine synagogue, just four days after 11 worshippers were killed inside the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania last month.

Council members agreed to match the ADL $5,000 reward, bringing the total up to $10,000.

“If you do something to the least of us, you do it to all of us, and we’re coming after you,” said Mayor Donald Wagner.

The city’s $5,000 contribution will come out of the City Council community sponsorship fund.Wagner hopes that doubling the reward will promote public awareness of the search and generate more leads in the investigation.

A person wearing a hoodie, sunglasses and a surgical face mask jumped the fence at the Michelson Drive pedestrian entrance to the synagogue at 1:18 AM on Oct. 31, according to a surveillance video. After spray painting the wall, the individual fled the scene on a bicycle that was allegedly stolen. The Irvine Police Department (IPD) conducted a full sweep of the area, but found no evidence besides the graffiti.

The IPD has no leads as of Nov. 13, according to Chief of Public Safety Mike Hamel. City police officers have increased patrols near local synagogues, the Merage Jewish Community Center and the Tarbut V’Torah Community Day School and are “keeping (their) ears close to the ground” by monitoring public social media accounts for potential leads, Hamel said.

“On behalf of the entire department, we condemn this hateful act,” Hamel said.

These was a 57 percent increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes nationwide and a 27 percent increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes in California in 2017, according to the ADL.

Vandalism accounted for 34 percent of hate crimes reported in Orange County last year, making it the most commonly reported hate crime in 2017, according to the Orange County Human Relations Commission. Of these vandalism-related crimes, 61 percent involved graffiti prominently displaying a swastika.

“The hope is that the whole community comes together to say that there is no room for hate in our community,” said Peter Levi, regional director of the ADL in Orange County and Long Beach. “The reward is just to send a message that we all stand together.”

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Irvine Police Department.

The vandalism is being investigated as a hate crime.

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2018/11/irvine-city-council-doubles-reward-for-information-on-hate-crime-doubles/feed/0Irvine Barclay Announces Hawaiian Master’s Serieshttps://voiceofoc.org/2018/11/arts-staff-20191107-release-hawaiian/
https://voiceofoc.org/2018/11/arts-staff-20191107-release-hawaiian/#respondWed, 07 Nov 2018 06:19:16 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=711011The following is a press release from an organization unaffiliated with Voice of OC. The views expressed here are not those of Voice of OC. Voice of OC posts press releases to provide readers with information directly from organizations. We do not edit or rewrite press releases, and encourage readers to contact the originator of a given release for more information. To submit a press release for Arts & Culture, email hjanssen@voiceofoc.org.

Irvine, CA – Nov. 5 – Tickets are now on sale for the Irvine Barclay Theatre’s Hawaiian Music Masters Series featuring some of the best musicians working in Hawai’i today.

These artists bring their cultural traditions as they showcase the amazing range and diversity of Hawaiian music currently played in the islands.

“The Hawaiian Music Series has been an important part of Barclay programing for over 20 years,” says Irvine Barclay Theatre President Jerry Mandel. “It is one of our most popular series. We bring a wide range of Hawaiian music but all is authentic and representative of that art form. Our audiences are enthusiastic and frankly love the music. We are pleased to provide this series to our patrons.”

Subscribe to all three concerts and save 10 percent over single ticket prices.

Kuana Torres Kahele is an innovator and trendsetter who expands the boundaries of Hawaiian music with his rich vocals and enduring lyrics. In 2011, he stepped out as a solo performer after over 15 years with the legendary Hawaiian super-group Na Palapalai. Kuana’s debut release, Kaunaloa, went on to sweep every major award that year.

Recognized and praised as one of the leading living Hawaiian composers, he writes from his own experiences and weaves poetic imagery throughout his captivating melodies.

With his distinctive vocal range and a gift for composing soulful Hawaiian songs, Kalani Pe’a is one of Hawai’i’s brightest new stars. His 2017 debut album, “E Walea,” won the Grammy Award for Best Regional Roots Music Album, making Kalani the first Hawaiian recording artist to ever win in the category. His latest album, “No ‘Ane’i” (“We Belong Here”), was released in 2018.

Influenced from an early age by classical and R&B music, Kalani blends his soothing melodies and powerful ballads with hauntingly gorgeous harmonies and resonant lyrics—creating a musical style all his own, delivered with the passion, poetry and soul of Hawai’i.

Kalani attended Colorado Mesa University (Mesa State College) from 2001-2007 and received his bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications, and has background in early childhood education. He was a preschool teacher at Kamehameha Preschools in Kona on the Big Island of Hawai’i for four years, and recently departed his position as a Hawaiian resource coordinator at Kamehameha Schools- Kealakūlia on Maui to pursue his music full-time.

Thursday, March 21 at 8 p.m.Henry Kapono & the Dukes on Sunday Band Presented by Irvine Barclay TheatreTickets: $36/$46/$100

Called “one of the great island songwriters of his generation,” Henry Kapono is a Hawaiian music legend. Joined by his Duke’s on Sunday Band, Kapono celebrates the laid-back island rock of Cecilio & Kapono (C&K), the group that rocketed him to fame in the 1970s, alongside songs from his newest CD, “Welcome 2 My Paradise.”

Kapono, a Grammy nominee and a multiple Na Hoku Hanohano (Hawaiian Grammy) award winner, was inducted into the Grammy Museum in 2017 (for his work with C&K) and has been at the creative forefront of contemporary Hawaiian music throughout his career. From soul-stirring romantic ballads and cherished songs of the land to enduring island party tunes, Kapono’s songs have become beloved classics of contemporary Hawaiian music.

Since opening its doors in 1990, Irvine Barclay Theatre has emerged as one of California’s most imaginative performing arts showcases. A unique collaborative venture among the City of Irvine, the University of California, Irvine, and the private sector, the theatre has a reputation for wide-ranging programming in the fields of contemporary dance, music, and theater arts.

Performances take place in the 756-seat Cheng Hall, renowned for its intimate atmosphere and superb acoustics.

Irvine Barclay Theatre is an independent non-profit organization established twenty years ago as an innovative public-private partnership with the vision of creating a unique performing arts venue. The private sector, the City of Irvine and the University of California, Irvine – combined funding and land to achieve a long-standing mutual goal.

The partners created Irvine Barclay Theatre to showcase top quality artists, to provide a superior facility for local and regional arts groups, and to enhance UCI’s educational mission, particularly the programs generated by its School of the Arts. The theatre building is named for Mr. Richard Barclay, an area philanthropist, who provided the leading gift for the theatre’s construction. The theatre auditorium is named for Dr. George and Arlene Cheng, also area philanthropists. Among artists, it is a venue of choice when performing in southern California.